


Blue Blood

by subjectives



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 11:41:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29916360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/subjectives/pseuds/subjectives
Summary: Royal General Kim Kai helps the Crown Prince's fiancé, Prince Sehun, get used to the palace. Sometimes, one must decide between love and duty.
Relationships: Kim Jongin | Kai & Oh Sehun
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	Blue Blood

“Prince Kai!” The royal messenger toples into his study, breathing hard as he calls for the prince. Kai turns in his chair, slightly startled at the sight of the mess of a messenger sent to him. 

“What do you need, Doyoung?” 

“The royal guests are here.” Doyoung coughs. “Prince Oh Sehun and his family. Prince Joonmyeon’s soon to be husband.” 

“Oh, lord.” Kai sighs, getting up quickly and trying to find his uniform coat. “I assume that I’m to receive them?” 

“You guessed it.” Doyoung cracks a smile, finally catching his breath. “Prince Joonmyeon is busy.” 

“Busy, my ass.”

Kai, for the longest time, has been taking over what Joonmyeon calls ‘lesser responsibilities’ around the palace. Kai understands that the crown prince must have more work than him, but Kai is the goddamn general of the biggest army below the equator. He doesn’t exactly have the free time to take over all of what his older brother doesn’t want to do. Besides, you’d think that Joonmyeon, of all people, would want to receive his fiance and his family first. 

“Either way, the royal family is waiting downstairs and I’m not going to be the one to tell them neither of the high princes are willing to receive them.” 

“Send Taeyong down.” Kai snorts. Taeyong, their fifteen year old brother, might just turn them off from marrying into Elyxion’s royal family.

“That doesn’t sound like a good idea.” Doyoung makes a face. “You should come down.” 

“Yeah, yeah, let me put on something decent.” Kai doesn’t exactly walk around the palace in his formal uniform, which is awfully uncomfortable and stiff. He usually opts for a light buttoned shirt and his uniform pants(the only really comfortable part of it), but he doubts his casual attire will go over well with the Exordium royal family. 

Kai fastens his medals to his uniform jacket, He puts on his boots and hurries out the door after Doyoung, buttoning up his jacket as he walks. 

“Have you seen them?” 

“They’re waiting in the garden.” Doyoung scratches the back of his neck. The two try their best to make it down their stairs quickly, but it’s nearly impossible to come down from the third floor as quickly as they need to. Eventually, the two end up at the garden doors, and Kai peeks to see the royal family, only to see the backs of heads and the head guard, Baekhyun, entertaining them with his jokes. 

Kai straightens out his jacket, running a hand through his thick, ebony locks. 

“Do I look okay?” Kai gives his most friendly smile to Doyoung. The younger nods quickly. “Okay, good.” Kai breathes out before pushing on the glass doors to enter. Baekhyun nods to him, his words dying in his mouth as Kai approaches. The Oh family turns to catch a glimpse of him, rising immediately to bow. 

Kai doesn’t know much about the Oh family, besides battle and military statistics, but he does know that this isn’t any kind of love marriage. Royal children rarely marry for love, instead they marry for alliances. From what statistics he does know, and both the kingdom’s current situations of war with the kingdom of North Corona, Elyxion and Exordium need each other. 

“Good afternoon, I apologize for the delay. I wasn’t prior informed of my responsibility to receive you.” He tries not to sound bitter.

“Prince Kai?” Queen Sunghee arches an eyebrow, her hands held together in front of her. Her sharp eyes scan Kai over. Kai can’t even shift his eyes to view the prince and the king.

“That’s me.” Kai pulls his most charming smile out of his ass. “You may sit. I am in no position to demand you to rise.” Baekhyun is quietly laughing to himself, as he does everytime Kai pulls out his formal language. What Kai would do to roll behind the royal family and slap the shit out of Baekhyun.

“Where is the crown prince?” He finally gets to shift his eyes over to the king, King Hoyoung. “Not that you are inadequate, but we had previously thought we were meeting with your brother.” 

“No offence taken.” Kai laughs good-naturedly. “My brother had something important come up. He will come down later, hopefully.” 

“Ah.” The queen seems unsatisfied with it. 

“Sit, General.” Baekhyun smirks at him, his face hidden from the Oh family. 

“Thanks.” Kai slaps Baekhyun on the back, extra hard just for laughing, but he takes his seat as the Ohs sit too. Baekhyun doesn’t even wince. 

“Ah, so you are the royal general?” The king asks, suddenly more interested in him.

“Indeed. The crown isn’t for me, and I’m not one for lying around useless in the palace.” 

“Interesting.” The queen nods. “Are you wed?” Kai feels like he’s at a press meeting or something with the sudden barrage of questions. He had expected questions about his brother, which he had equipped himself with knowledge of just in case of this situation. His brother is a humongous flake, after all. 

“No, I do not plan to.” He says, though he doesn’t mean it exactly.

“Ah, a forever bachelor.” The king laughs heartily, putting Kai at ease just the slightest. “That’s a lucky situation.” Kai laughs politely. 

“Indeed.” 

“How old are you?”

“Mom, can we ask about the crown prince instead? I’m not marrying Prince Kai.” Prince Sehun’s sudden words give Kai the pleasure of finally being able to figure out what his future brother in law will look like. With the beauty of both the king and the queen, the prince can’t be horrible looking. 

Kai’s assumption isn’t wrong. The, clearly, younger is fair-skinned with silver locks that only look angelic against his skin, his hair waves down to the nape of his neck. His broad shoulders connect to a slim torso and to slimmer hips. His face is mature, but his eyes are naive. 

“I’m willing to hand off any information about my brother you need, Prince Sehun.” Kai smiles. 

“My parents are just asking about you in case you would fit my sister, Prince Kai. Don’t be too flattered by the attention.” He talks lazily, but there’s a certain sharpness to it that comes from his mother.

“To have the Royal family’s attention is more than enough to have me flattered, Prince Sehun.” Kai says, aimed at flattery towards the queen, but his tone is just vaguely sarcastic. He hopes the queen doesn’t catch that, though he can tell by Sehun’s smirk. 

“That’s quite sweet of you to say, Prince Kai. May I just call you Kai?” She tilts her head slightly, interest in him emerging in her eyes as he plays around with his words. Maybe she can tell Kai is made for flattery, just as every royal child with responsibility is made to be for. Perhaps the title of General has already given her a clue already.

“Anything is fine, your majesty.” He smiles.

“Well, Kai, how do you plan to train our son?” The king asks.

Kai nearly drops down to the floor. Train his brother in law? Joon has got to be kidding him. Kai didn’t hear anything about training the goddamn future king. What the hell does he even need to train him in? Stats? He’s sure Prince Sehun can learn all that himself. He’s got more important things to do than train his brother’s greater responsibility.

“Excuse me?” Kai folds his lips. “What do you mean?” 

“Were you not informed? You are to train our son in the manners of your kingdom.” 

“I was not informed, but I’d be delighted. Prince Sehun seems very well-versed already.”   
  
“He’s not, sadly enough.” The queen sighs tiredly. Kai’s eyes flicker to Sehun’s face momentarily, barely registering just the second of hurt on the younger’s face. Interesting, Kai thinks, the queen seems just as sharp to Sehun as she is to Kai, if not more. “He will need a lot of help if he will be able to rule Elyxion beside your brother.”   
  


“I’d be happy to help anyway I can.” Kai says, tapping his foot, waiting for Doyoung to pop back in with Joonmyeon in tow. “How is your kingdom, your majesty?” He turns the conversation around.

Before the king can answer, his prayers are answered. Kai directs his attention to Doyoung quickly, who bites his lip and jerks his head to the side. He takes this as a sign that Joonmyeon is finally fucking done. 

“Prince Joonmyeon is ready, your highnesses.” 

“Wonderful. Seems you can finally meet your fiance, Prince Sehun.” Kai says. He notices how the word fiance irks Sehun, just the simple tick of the jaw gives off how much Sehun doesn’t want to betrothed. 

“Sorry to keep you all waiting, your majesties.” Joonmyeon enters, in his grand dark blue uniform, less medals hanging than Kai but the ornate design of the crown prince’s uniform does not rely on just some medals. His dark hair is neat, and his neutral face is the face of a king. Jongin smiles at him as he can already tell Joonmyeon has his game face on, and is ready to charm the goddamn pants off of the entire Oh family. 

“Thanks, General, for taking over while I was busy.” 

“No problem, hyung. I’ll be taking my leave now.” He bows to the three guests, and leaves with Baekhyun. Luhan comes up quickly to replace him at his post. 

***

Kai is once again blindsided by Oh Sehun, this time at dinner.

The royal general strolls leisurely into the dining hall, just in his grey sweatpants and thin t-shirt he prefers to sleep in. After all, it is close to midnight and nobody but the servants should be up, and the servants are more than used to seeing Kai look like a peasant. 

Instead of being greeted by Seohyun, the head cook, he is greeted by Sehun, seated at the grand dining table alone. He momentarily wonders why Oh Sehun is still here.

“Oh, hello, Prince Sehun.” Kai smiles, pulling on his show face again. Sehun scans him head to toe, and Kai notices Sehun is still in the prince’s uniform. 

“Yes, hello, Prince Kai.” Sehun nods, going back to his food, which he just picks at. Kai notices quickly, the downwards mood of the whole room. It seems even the servants are nervous to come out to help Sehun out. 

“Is the meal fine?” He asks the foreign prince. Sehun gives him a small smile but it’s weaker. His whole aura is weaker than that of what it was earlier today.

“Oh, yes, it’s really good.” Kai aches to drop the formality in their words. He folds his lips. “If you were wondering, the crown prince was busy and isn’t able to dine with me.” 

“He does that often.” Kai offers an apologetic smile. Sehun nods. “I’ll eat with you though. I don’t have much to do around the palace.” 

“You don’t have to-” 

“I was just about to grab dinner anyway.” Kai cut him off, trying his best at a warm smile. He peaks his head into the kitchen, giving a slightly bashful grin before calling for Seohyun. Seohyun isn’t that much older than him, but still acts like a mother. 

“Chicken or steak?” Kai eats the same thing for dinner everyday, until he gets tired of that. Grilled meat and some vegetables are as much as he can eat at the moment. 

“Chicken please.” He blows a kiss to her. She makes a disgusted face at him and he laughs before backing out to the table. Sehun tilts his head at him. 

“Do you talk to them a lot?” Sehun asks as Kai sits back down. 

Kai shrugs, “The palace is lonely. My brother isn’t around much, even when I’m rarely home.” 

“Where do you go? Where does he go?” Sehun slowly twirls the noodles in his plate. 

“I go to the front lines, or at the barracks.” 

“Oh, right, you’re the royal general.” Sehun nods. He still looks down, and Kai just wants to tear out his hair because, god, does Joonmyeon not know how to treat his guests? “Is Prince Joonmyeon usually like this?”    
  


“Like what?” 

“Like...absent.” 

“He cares about our kingdom a lot.” Kai smiles. “But he doesn’t have his priorities straight sometimes. He isn’t in his right mind if he ditched his guest.” 

“I asked him why you came first, and he said that you usually take care of his lesser responsibilities.” Sehun bites his lip, finally looking up properly to look at Kai across the table. Sehun’s eyes are too expressive, for both his and Kai’s disadvantage. Years of diplomacy has adapted Kai to reading expressions, reading eyes, reading underlying tones all too well. Sehun’s eyes are hurt. Kai wishes Joonmyeon had more tact. 

“I do.” 

“Am I a lesser responsibility?” 

“Joonmyeon’s priorities are a bit skewed.” Kai answers, unsure what else to say.

“Am I a lesser responsibility to him?” Sehun says, still staring at Kai with so much intensity. All the poor boy wants is an answer, but Kai can’t even give him that. Because even he cannot dig that deep into Joonmyeon’s psyche, to figure out what is important and what isn’t to him. But even Kai is a lesser responsibility to Joonmyeon.

“I don’t know.” 

“Right. You wouldn’t.” Sehun nods, looking back down at his food. 

Kai bites his lip, a few minutes pass before he gets the courage to say something. Seohyun brings his meal into their awkwardness. She leaves, probably to go tell the rest of the servants about how Prince Kai is finally awkward.

“Have you seen the town at all yet?” He says, digging into his meal. 

“No, not at all.” 

“I’ll arrange for Joonmyeon to take you sometime. It’s a beautiful city.” 

“I’d rather go with you.” Sehun sighs. “You seem to care, at least.” Sehun takes him by surprise a third time today. Kai’s cheeks heat up; Sehun doesn’t look up to notice.

“My brother...isn’t the best at showing his care. He worries about the kingdom too much. Ever since our mother died, our father hasn’t been in a good condition to rule and Joonmyeon takes all that burden.” Kai chews on his lip, hoping to make Sehun understand. “He doesn’t let anyone share his burden. That’s why he didn’t want to get married.” 

“So, why am I here?” Sehun says, pushing his plate away finally. “Should I just go back to my own kingdom, Prince Kai?” Sehun looks at him demandingly, as if he doesn’t know what he wants to do and Kai is the final decider.

Kai continues, not listening to Sehun, “He chose to get married though. Not just for the alliance. He doesn’t want to be alone anymore.” 

“He has you.” 

“A brother is not the same as a partner.” Kai laughs. “As much as I’d love to relieve him of his burden, he won’t accept it.” 

“Why does he want to accept me though?” 

“Sehun,” Kai is exasperated now. He doesn’t know all the answers, and he won’t no matter how many times Sehun asks. “I’m not Joonmyeon.” 

“I know.” 

“I can’t answer your questions.” 

“I know.” 

“Why do you keep asking then?” 

“It is hard to approach the crown prince.” Sehun says, laughing just the slightest. But it isn’t any kind of humor, more a sad laugh. Kai can tell Sehun is as unsure about this as Joonmyeon is. 

“Not quite. Am I not hard to approach?” 

Sehun furrows his eyebrows. “You’re handsome too, but the crown prince is handsome in a cold way. You’re warm.” 

Kai laughs again. “He looks cold?” 

“Very much.” 

“He’s the opposite.” Kai promises, “Have you seen his cheeks? They’re so squishy. He giggles when you touch them.” Sehun laughs, his eyes folding into crescents. A kind of endearing laugh. 

“Do you expect me to touch his cheeks?”

“I mean, it’s an icebreaker.” Kai shrugs in return. He finishes up his dinner over their conversation, pushing out his seat. He can feel Sehun’s eyes on him. “I’ll be off to bed in a bit.” 

“I’ll join you.” 

Kai quirks an eyebrow and Sehun’s cheeks redden quickly as he realizes what his words sound like. 

“I mean-not join you. Like I’ll be going to bed too.” He tumbles over his words as Kai just laughs. 

Kai makes his move to leave as Sehun gets out of his seat too. 

“Oh, and Prince Sehun?” Kai turns back momentarily. 

“Yes?” 

“Tomorrow at nine am.” 

“What?” 

“The town. You said you’d rather see the town with me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all! Well...I've been sitting on this fic for maybe three years since I first stanned EXO. I took a long break in the middle when life got in the way, but I'm back into obsession as quarantine has given me more time. I hope you enjoyed!


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